The Soundtrack of Our Chaotic Bears' Lives

Play-By-Play Man Jeff Joniak Has Seen Us Through It All & Sees Good Days Ahead

Bears play-by-play man Jeff Joniak has called the team's every game since 2001.

By Clete Campbell Windy City End Zone

The narrator readies his microphone and warms up his pipes. The curtain will drop on the show’s latest season in just a few weeks.

He’s the calm but passionate voice of a million Chicago football dreams and nightmares come to life.

He’s the voice of September hope and December depression, the narrator of thrilling wins and far too many agonizing, rip-your-heart-out losses.

On any given Chicago autumn game day, you can hear him describing the gridiron drama that grips this ravenous-for-football city. He’s clear, articulate and more vivid than a National Geographic special. He keeps his cool when few of us can.

He endured the follies of the Matt Eberflus era without resorting to drinking on air. He is the steady pulse of a fanatically passionate fan base with naturally high blood pressure.

He is the soundtrack of their Chicago Bears fandom.

He is Jeff Joniak.

His longevity on the mic is in a word, to borrow his trademark catchphrase, ridiculous.

“Jeff Joniak has been at the heart of Chicago Bears football for nearly a quarter of a century,” Sports Mockery’s Erik Lambert writes.

Since 2001, Joniak and former Bears offensive lineman Tom Thayer have been on the call for every Bears game on the team’s radio network, which is flagshipped by WMVP (AM 1000).

Joniak knew he was born to be a sports broadcaster shortly after he met advanced math for the first time. Out the window went his dream career in meteorology.

“Calculus and physics were my death knell,” Joniak joked to the Tribune. “I took Calculus 101 three times — F, F and D on the third try, first semester of sophomore year.

“I thought I was prepared. I had a C going into the (third) final, but I can’t do story problems. Never have. Never will. … The whole test was 20 story problems. I turned it in blank. Then I burned the book in a garbage can in the back of Buchanan Hall on the campus of Iowa State University.”

Lucky for us. Through Super Bowl times and Marc Trestman misery, Joniak has seen and guided Bears fans through it. Articulating the Hall of Fame-caliber greatness of Brian Urlacher, Charles “Peanut” Tillman and Devin Hester and infamous mediocrity of every Bears coach not named Lovie Smith.

And if anyone can honestly tell us what kind of 2025 Bears team we can expect as Chicago’s team hits camp this week, it’s their call-it-like-he-sees-it play-by-play man.

“Joniak has run the full spectrum of Bears coaches,” Lambert writes. “It started with Dick Jauron, then moved to Lovie Smith. He watched Marc Trestman oversee the collapse into the cellar, John Fox go on his retirement tour, Matt Nagy try his best Andy Reid impression, and Matt Eberflus look overwhelmed.

“If anyone is qualified to assess whether Ben Johnson has what it takes, it would be Joniak.”

For the record, Joniak, as he told Fox 32 News, believes Johnson was a “slam dunk” hire.

What can Bears fans expect from the Johnson and Caleb Williams marriage, arguably the most critical union in Bears quarterback history given the immense stakes involved? Will it thrive like Reid and Patrick Mahomes or melt like butter like an ill-fated Coldplay Kiss Cam couple?

“It has been stated that Caleb wants to be coached hard and Ben will coach him hard,” Joniak said. “He’s going to have an expectation for every snap. There can be no other way to put it. You’re not going to run by mistakes. You’re gonna have to execute. I think, if you want it as a person, then you’ve got the guy to do it for you. It’s going to be Ben Johnson.”

And the time for the Bears to finally make their playoff move is now, Joniak stresses.

“You have to take advantage of this moment now,” Joniak said. “You have a second-year quarterback on a rookie contract, and you have to make the most of this time. This time is critical. There cannot be a major peel back. It has to be a major step forward.”

And who’s going to calmly steer us through whatever joyful celebrations or turbulent weather the 2025 Bears season brings our way?

That would be the soundtrack of our Bears fandom: Jeff Joniak.